1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new type of a reaction vessel, i.e. a cuvette, for usage in automatic analyzers and to a cuvette incubation method. More precisely, the present invention relates to a cuvette and an incubation method according to the preambles of the independent claims.
2. Description of Background Art
As known, disposable and reusable cuvettes have been used in automatic analyzers as individual cuvettes or as sets of cuvettes. Cuvettes are vessels into which a sample to be analyzed and possible other substances to be used in the test are portioned out for the analysis. Reusable cuvettes are cleaned between the analyses, whereas disposable cuvettes are designed to receive only one sample during their life span. The cleaning of the cuvettes between the tests is laborious due to the properties of the cleaning products and to the potentionally dangerous substance to be removed. Thus, especially when performing a large amount of tests, disposable cuvettes are favored, which are delivered to waste treatment after use and it is certain enough that they are clean at least when taken into use.
Disposable cuvettes are known that there are manufactured as a continuous chain of cuvettes, which can be bent about two axes into a spiral shape and which are adapted to be moved, wrapped around the moving orbicular bodies of the analyzer. Likewise, columns of cuvettes are already known, which can be moved from cuvette specific protrusions, between which conveying members, such as toothed belts, are adapted to penetrate. As known, the attachment of the cuvette or the set of cuvettes to a testing apparatus is performed with external shaped connection of the cuvette, such as pin couplings, and such that the receiving means of the testing apparatus comprising flexible separating walls hold the cuvette in place.
However, the prior art has some disadvantages. The cuvettes according to prior art are usually suitable to be used in only one application, whereby they have not been suited to be used in several different types of analyzers and incubators. The known cuvette-incubator-pairs have included a plurality of maneuvers and precision mechanics and, thus, not being particularly robust in structure nor in operation. In addition, said pairs are typically test-oriented, which means that only analyses of a specific test, typically a photometric analysis, is performed in one test sequence. This is why there have been gratuitous delays in receiving patient or sample specific results. Likewise, the abundance of maneuvers has resulted in that the sample-carrying cuvettes being exposed to several contacts, which has worn their outer surfaces. In some cases excess wear has have impaired the optical properties of the clear vessels. The wear and tear is especially intensive when the vessels are being washed, which is disadvantageous only with reusable cuvettes.